Sunday, 13 July 2025

Kapybara Man - comics by kids


A cluster of six comics made by, intriguingly eight groups. Don't ask. Actually do, or I won't have any details to bore you with in this blog.


Before we even get to the comics made by an unusually large number of kids, I should mention the Comic Art Masterclasses I did the previous week, in Hull, where the kids didn't even get to make a comic at all. I was part of the Big Malarkey Festival in Hull where, over two days, I worked with four groups per day, each getting just a 45 minute session with me. So there was no chance of producing anything worth looking at, but I did manage to get all their faces drawn, which gave them something to take away. 

Following that, the above comics were done at Whitchurch Primary in Harrow, where they also wanted four groups in a day to work with me, each getting a one hour session. Because all four groups had already seen the "how to draw a character" opening section of my class, in a Zoom demonstration I did the previous week (to about 800 kids in about 25 schools at once), I opted to try and produce comics with these groups. So the first group got to make up the comic title, then the second group got their faces drawn, and all four groups got a printed comic to take away, containing only their groups' strips. The downside of this, which I hadn't taken into consideration, was that this meant I spent twice as long on the photocopier producing 4 lots of 30 comics (instead of the usual 2 lots), eating up all of my lunchtime, and extra time after school. That's interesting Kev, tell us more about your production methods.


With Arden Academy in Solihull we were back to business as usual, working with two groups, all of whom got a caricature and a comic to take away. Plus they bought 13 books, which is great.


Frome Festival's classes count as the hottest of the year so far. The heatwave has been going on, on and off, for a couple of weeks, and this was in one of those rooms that really feels it. Ironically, as I was packing up, I discovered the button that turned the air conditioning on. A little too late.

The celebrities these eight, yes eight, groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Cristiano Ronaldo, Elon Musk, Deigo Jota (recently deceased Liverpool footballer), The Queen, Adam Sandler, King Charles, and Freddie Mercury.

My Books And Where To Find Them...

Richard The
Third (Colour)
Doctors Who?
Colouring
Socks Do
Shakespeare
Kids Comics
Annual 2026
Richard 
The Third (bw)
Findlay 
Macbeth
Prince of 
Denmark Street
Midsummer Night's 
Dream Team
Shakespeare
Omnibus

Comic Tales
From The Bible

Joseph, Ruth
& Other Stories

Space
Elain




Wednesday, 9 July 2025

Humpty Dumpty Spanked A Child - Kids Comics Annual 2026


It's out now, and ready in time for the next comic festivals - my Masterclass Annual. This year's compilation of comics by kids in my Comic Art Masterclasses is called Humpty Dumpty Spanked A Child and collects up 90 pages full of colour front covers, dreamed up by children and drawn by my fair hand.

If you'd had my Comic Art Masterclass between September 2024 and July 2025, your comic cover should be in this colourful paperback volume. Schools from Kent to Northern Ireland, from The Lake District to Cornwall, from Scotland to the Midlands and all points inbetween. If I've taught your kids, I've kept their nonsense and squeezed it into this book.

You'll find a few too many Peppa Pigs for my liking, and an overabundance of Italian Brain Rot. But you'll also find some of the most original genius titles ever dreamt up in the history of the world ever, then drawn by me (while I'm still trying to teach a class full of kids - oh yes, be doubly impressed by the speed at which I rattle off this twaddle!)

It's available on Lulu here, and if it ever pops up on Amazon I'll let you know.

My Books And Where To Find Them...

Richard The
Third (Colour)
Doctors Who?
Colouring
Socks Do
Shakespeare
Kids Comics
Annual 2026
Richard 
The Third (bw)
Findlay 
Macbeth
Prince of 
Denmark Street
Midsummer Night's 
Dream Team
Shakespeare
Omnibus

Comic Tales
From The Bible

Joseph, Ruth
& Other Stories

Space
Elain





Tuesday, 8 July 2025

Scottish Falsetto Socks Do Shakespeare - new graphic novel version


A very exciting new project I've just completed, in between other jobs - The Scottish Falsetto Socks Do Shakespeare The Graphic Novel. It's 70-odd pages long, and incorporates the already-existing Richard III and Romeo and Juliet strips with a whole new load of strip pages. 

Pretty well every sketch from the show, from Shall I Compare Thee, through Hw We Met, to An Actor Prepares, The Porter Scene, and Othello, all drawn in glorious comic style. I've even done illustrated pages of the lyrics of the songs we play in the audience-in music, including As You Like It (to the tune of I Like It), Loves Labours Lost (Neighbours), Comedy Of Errors (Umbrella), Nick Bottom (Big Bottom), King John (Big John), and more. A most satisfying little production to have completed, I must say.

The ebook is available in a variety of ways, all listed here, and the paperback is coming soon for Lulu, and should be found here. If it makes it onto Amazon, and my comic books mostly don't recently, I'll let you know.

The Socks will be performing Shakespeare at The Lakes Comic Festival in September, so this new book will be available as merchandise.


Frustratingly D2D, who've been very good at getting my books out there and onto Amazon, have "blocked" this one (the first time that's happened) because, they say, the pages have too much dense ink on them and it'll show through the printed pages. That'll be the tartan backgrounds. So I've uploaded it to Lulu, but I'm hoping an amended D2D version might still make its way out there. Ironically, I wasn't going to make a Lulu edition at all, and have only done so because D2D raising this problem.


My Books And Where To Find Them...

Richard The
Third (Colour)
Doctors Who?
Colouring
Socks Do
Shakespeare
Kids Comics
Annual 2026
Richard 
The Third (bw)
Findlay 
Macbeth
Prince of 
Denmark Street
Midsummer Night's 
Dream Team
Shakespeare
Omnibus

Comic Tales
From The Bible

Joseph, Ruth
& Other Stories

Space
Elain



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